


The Island

by littlesolo



Category: Elementary (TV), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: F/F, elements from The Island movie
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-21
Updated: 2014-11-27
Packaged: 2018-02-18 05:15:45
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 15
Words: 18,368
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2336579
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/littlesolo/pseuds/littlesolo
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Natasha is captured by HYDRA and taken to their testing facility, only to find that they are far more evil than she had ever imagined.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [justanexercise](https://archiveofourown.org/users/justanexercise/gifts).



Steve and Clint were waiting for Natasha at the meet up point. This was taking her too long. It was obvious that the doctor that had been doing side analysis for HYDRA had fled. Sharing a look, Steve and Clint doubled back to look for her. They didn't find any signs of a struggle, but they did find Natasha's ear piece. Clint looked around. Natasha might have vanished but she would have left a sign for him to let him know. So that he could let Maria know she'd gone off plan, but was still okay.  

She hadn't.

Someone had taken her.

* * *

She didn't know what happened. All she had were flashes of moments when she'd been semiconscious. She'd had experiences like that before and would rather not remember them. Turning over, she realized she had a bitter taste in her mouth and tried to swallow it away. She realized she was on a rather comfy bed and that everything in the room was white. Glaringly so. Even her clothing. She turned to see a boy about fifteen years old sitting in a bed on the other side of the room. He's bald and Natasha gets a sick feeling in her stomach that he wasn't always that way.

"I'm Charlie" says the boy with a small waive.

"Natasha" she replies. Something is very familiar and very wrong. The last thing she remembers is going after that doctor who had been doing side work for HYDRA.

"What does your wrist band say they're going to do to you?" he asked as he nodded towards her hand. He hadn't made any move to get up or approach her. She looked down at her wrist and felt herself start to panic. It wasn't possible. She'd escaped! She'd gotten free! She closed her eyes and felt tears form beneath them. She opened them and looked down at her wrist again. She recognized it from a lifetime ago. The words on the band were simple: _Black Widow - Restore._  

She had known evil from her childhood and she knew HYDRA was an evil that needed to be stopped.  

HYDRA having united with Red Room was something no one could have anticipated. The first thing she did was mentally repeat her name to herself over and over. She was now Natasha Romanov, someone who had a life of her own and someone who loved her named Maria Hill. As she repeated her name to herself again and again, she took comfort in the fact that Maria would never stop looking for her. She'd just have to hold on until then.  

* * *

Maria had done the best she could. Her first instinct was to shake Clint and Steve senseless and demand to know why they had returned without a least some sort of lead that they could follow. The only reason she didn't was because she knew Clint loved Natasha like a little sister, and had probably gone over every inch at least five times. She wanted to slap the the forlorn off of Steve's face and yell that Natasha wasn't dead so stop looking as if she was!  

She'd left before she used Natasha's back up bracelets on them both. She knew they had tried to "discreetly" follow her, something Rogers was never going to achieve if he kept dressing like he was still in the 1940's, and she shook off Rogers in within the first three blocks. She'd decided to go on foot, hoping to walk off her fear and rage before she got there. She allowed Clint to follow because despite her impulsiveness, she knew she'd need back up if she planned on rescuing Natasha.  

Maria fires off a quick text to Clint before she knocks on the door.  

_Are you coming or what?_

He's at her side before the door opens. She's greeted by the ever cautious yet curious face of Jamie Moriarty.  

"HYDRA's taken Natasha" says Maria bluntly in a low tone. Clint turns to look at her, astounded at how freely she's discussing such topics with non SHIELD personnel. Well, he supposes there isn't any SHIELD personnel anymore, but it's still not like the Maria.

Moriarty opens the door wide and ushers them inside.


	2. Chapter 2

Maria relents and texts Steve the address too. When he gets there, he's about to start in about professionalism and being a team, but one look from Clint tells him that if he wants to stay, then he's to keep his mouth shut. Jamie Moriarty is a face recognized even by Steve, and now she has been joined by an Asian woman who she seems to be reassuring that she is not in trouble but assisting.  

"So how do you know Natasha?" asks Steve, momentarily forgetting that he was supposed to stay quiet. This seems to be a silly question and he realizes it right after he'd asked it. Given both of the women's frequent international travels and penchant for shady dealings, it wasn't really surprising that they knew each other.  

"How are you associated with SHIELD?" asked Clint, more specifically.  

"After running into each other a handful of times and one particular incident, Natasha recruited me as a SHIELD informant. It was the least I could do after how she'd helped me" explained Jamie, offering tea to everyone.  

"And how was that?" Clint's tone was gentle, less attacking as Steve's might have been. Yes, Moriarty was known as a criminal to most, but if Natasha had helped her there was clearly another side to things. Steve's stance and crossed arms said he remained skeptical so Clint shot him a look and he sat down in a chair next to the archer.  

"I have a daughter. Given my lifestyle and enemies, I cannot raise her myself and have made other arrangements in her best interest. Natasha alerted me to the fact that she was going to be intercepted by Red Room and helped me in preventing it and keeping her safe" explained Jamie. The silence the fell over the room was thick. It was certainly clear why that would have made these two women close friends. Also, why Natasha would go out of her way for someone she knew had a past as spotted as her own. Although, that would never have been an actual issue for her, it would have been all about the girl's life, and both Clint and Maria knew that.  "So, what happened exactly?" asked Jamie, sitting on the couch with her companion who she'd introduced as Joan Watson. Clint went through the events and then what had been there and what hadn't.  

"Wait, wait, wait. So you're like a private consultant for SHIELD?" asked Joan, her jaw doing it's very best to keep from dropping.  

"Does that surprise you, love?" asked Jamie, clearing meaning the endearment.  

"Seeing as how you're wanted by everyone from INTERPOL to FBI? No, not really" replied Joan as she rubbed the space between her eyes. Maria gave a faint smile, familiar with the overwhelmed feeling and the headache that was growing behind Joan's eyes from when she and Natasha first started dealing with each other's pasts.  

* * *

Natasha discovered that in addition to whatever was going to be done to her, her duties included looking after her young roommate. It turned out he was a wealth of information. HYDRA's experiments on Charlie had consisted of some sort of genetic enhancement regarding speed. The therapy had involved precise needle injections into his legs. Something had gone wrong though and resulted in the removal of his left leg above the knee. They'd then tried something to, from Charlie's explanation Natasha's best guess was, repair the nerve damage which had felt like his leg was being plugged into an electrical socket. It had also involved injections into the back of his neck and spinal column and since then he'd been confined to a wheelchair.  

His advantage now was that people tended to forget he was there and talk around him. He made a show of pointing out which other subjects she should look out for and then quietly told her about potential allies while they ate. Two specific ones, Cameron and Griffin were ones that she took note of. Cameron, from what she could tell, was a few years younger than her and was under the same sort of "training plan" she was scheduled for. The girl also seemed to have taken the other boy under her wing. Charlie said they'd both looked out for him a few times as well.  

Natasha was open to the prospect of allies, but after HYDRA and discovering they'd teamed up with Red Room, she took nothing at face value. She hadn't even believed Charlie until she was pushing his chair and had seen his scars. She now believed what had been done to him, but was still being cautious about everything else. She knew what Red Room was capable of, and they scared her more than HYDRA. Any one of these children would gladly tell whatever tale they were instructed to if it meant Red Room would hold off on their "treatment" and Natasha would be hard pressed to fault them for it.  

* * *

Jamie had told Maria to go ahead and take the room she and Natasha usually used and Joan had gone with her to make sure she had fresh towels (ones absent of blood stains). Jamie then turned to Clint and Steve and raised an eyebrow, ready for their questions.  

"You seem to know a lot about Natasha's past" started Steve.  

"I understand you've worked with her since New York? Surely you know she's led a life before that, and not all of it as star spangled as yours" said Jamie leaning back on the couch, placing her hands on her lap after setting down her tea cup.  

"What's that supposed to mean?" asked Steve, he'd like to think he knew his team mates well enough.  

"It means she didn't acquire the code name Black Widow because she has a love of arachnids or as a fashion icon. She was an assassin from a very young age. An excellent one whose reputation is known world wide by word of mouth and the red hour glass symbol she sometimes left behind. It's not exactly a mystery why HYDRA would want to harness a skill set like that" explained Jamie.  

"But you can't just duplicate something that was taught" stated Steve, trying to wrap his head around what he was learning of Natasha's past. It had never really occurred to him to look.  

"Red Room didn't just train her, they experimented on her. It's why she doesn't seem to age and heals faster" explained Clint. "She can push herself harder, but everything she does, her jumps, her speed, that's her. The genetics side gives her the ability to enhance her endurance and maybe make that adrenaline last a bit longer but the balance it takes to land that huge three story jump is her. It's all very detailed and Banner can explain it better, but it's not like you were enhanced. Those are her muscles, it's just like, her senses and reflexes are all fine tuned" explained Clint. He left out the other aspect that it did to her. That was Natasha's to share only if she wanted to.  

* * *

Natasha was beginning to see what "restoring Black Widow" would entail. She'd been taken from Charlie's side and placed into what looked to be an arena of sorts. She looked across the room and spotted a young man who was a clear example of steroid abuse and undoubtably had the rage that usually accompanied it. Natasha closed her eyes and took a deep breath, letting it out slowly. She didn't want to become what she had been, but she had to stay alive to see Maria again.

Her eyes might have been closed, but there was no way to miss his approaching thundering gait. Remembering her surroundings, she remembered where she was in the room and spun to the right just as she felt his fist three feet from her face. She heard the bones crush in his hand as it impacted the wall that had been directly behind her. Stepping easily around him and ducking his large arm as he reached out to try and grab behind him, she struck a precise kick at the side of his kneecap. She heard it crack and as he cried out she struck a final blow between his shoulders which knocked him unconscious. There was a blinding pain in her wrist, and then she was out as well.  

She woke up back in her room with Charlie. Apparently she'd displeased them. She should have guessed at the tasers in her wrist band. Red Room would want some form of control and HYDRA wouldn't pass up having the upper hand. She'd fight how ever many they threw at her, but she refused to become the killer they had created.  

She was Natasha Romanoff or Natalia Alianovna Romanova, both were one and the same. Someone loved by Maria Hill for all she was, including her past. Maria had also played a large part in helping her overcome her past. It was something Natasha was very proud of, and if there is one thing Russians feel strongly about, it's their pride. Not that she still considered herself Russian still, but she still had the ferocity and will of one and both Red Room and HYDRA had better be prepared for it.  


	3. Chapter 3

It was getting harder for Natasha to keep from killing anyone. The people she was being pitted against were getting more ruthless but also more careless. It wasn't until the fourth idiot that she realized what they were doing. They weren't just testing her, they were testing their subjects. The steroid giants were a threat physically, but it looked like HYDRA and Red Room were now trying to find a way to repair what their fighters now lacked in speed and reflexes.  

One thing she had also noticed was that Cameron was fight them as well. Fighting HYDRA and Red Room, that is, like she was. The best she could tell, she had taken of Griffin and looked out for him like an older sibling to keep a hold of the human side of her. Natasha figured HYDRA and the others allowed it because their fighting as a team was more than effective. She suspected that Cameron kept the boy in top form to keep him from being used as leverage. Smart. Natasha definitely saw the potential for allies in them.  

* * *

Maria was grateful that Jamie that had allowed her to drive her to meet her contacts. Moriarty being who she was to most people, had significantly more contacts than SHIELD could ever filter through. She had been going stir crazy at the brownstone and she hadn't needed Steve's worrying gaze directed at her anymore. The man worried after her as if he were her an over protective older brother, but she'd never had one and didn't need one now.  

At least Clint seemed to get that. If anything, he was like Natasha's older brother but more along the lines of the type who dragged his little sister out of a bar brawl before she got in over her head because she had no sense and didn't really care. There were times Clint would swear she was more Irish than Russian.  

Maria trusted Jamie but she was a woman of action, even if it was limited to just pushing papers or buttons on a screen. Waiting around was killing her. Jamie entered the car and although she was usually a master at concealing her emotions, Maria could tell something was wrong.  

"We can go as far as the shipping yard but no further. Despite how much business I bring them, they are not willing to let us jeopardize their arrangement with their other main source of business." Maria put in a call to Clint, who suggested bringing in Sharon back up. A hand on her arm from Jamie had her agreeing. The three of them would continue to pursue the train while Jamie, Joan, and Maria aged in the car. Maria was driving but Joan could feel the tension coming off of her in waves.  

As they waited for a report back, Maria went over their last conversation in her mind. They'd been discussing taking a real vacation. Just the two of them with a couple of phones that Pepper had preprogramed for no business. Natasha had suggested Spain.  

Maria could hear Sharon talking to Clint in her medical voice in the background when Steve's voice came through on the comms that she's routed through her cell phone and put on speaker for the others. "These are definitely HYDRA supplies, but I don't get it. The guys with weapons on the cars are Russian. We're still following, but is there something I'm missing? Maria? Maria?"  

Maria was outside the car being sick, Joan having recognized the look on her face and moved just as quickly was holding back her hair. Maria had never been a person of faith really growing up, and then seeing Thor command thunder and lightening and then his brother kill her best friend hadn't exactly convinced her that there was one almighty power. Still, she sent a prayer that Natasha was safe and holding on. She was coming for her.  

* * *

In retrospect, Natasha should have taken closer note of the fact that Cameron kept Griffin in top form. She had figured correctly that it kept them from being used as leverage against each other if the boy was capable of fending for himself against the guards. What she hadn't considered was that since she wasn't killing her opponents like they wanted her to, Charlie could be used against her in the same way.  

They came and took him from her while they were in line waiting to be served lunch, Charlie putting together what was happening faster than did.  

"Natasha, where are they taking me? Natasha? _NATASHA!_ " She held on to his arm until it was pulled away from her. The moment they were no longer connected, her wrist taser began to shock her, sending her to her knees. The commotion jostled the other people in line and she could hear Griffin's cry of outrage, his British accent giving him away. Suddenly, there was an all out riot. In the midst of the chaos, she managed to get to Charlie's chair and adjust the IV feeds, hoping it would lessen the intake of whatever they were giving him. However, that was the last of the energy she had to spare against the wrist taser and she finally passed out.  

* * *

Maria felt like an idiot. She should have put it together when Jamie had explained how Natasha had helped her. Red Room's presence being this far without their notice should have immediately set off alarm bells. Well, it had. Except then HYDRA chose that moment to reveal itself and Red Room was forgotten. "What are you thinking? You've got to have some theory by now" asked Joan, who had been riding and listening to the wheels turn in the former Assistant Director's head. Jamie was driving them around Georgetown and picking up things from various errands of her own just in case they were being followed while they waited to hear back from their scouting party. Jamie was driving them to her favorite coffee and tea house, while Maria hashed out her theory.  

"Red Room has been here for a long time, longer than any of us realized. By the time they went after your daughter, they'd already narrowed down their search to specifics. They probably figured out who she was from that case that Joan worked involving her. Red Room would find that out somehow, I don't doubt it. The daughter of Moriarty would clearly be a desirable test subject. Somehow they knew their doctor was compromised and hoped that Natasha would be one of the ones sent to retrieve him. When she was, they took the opportunity to take one of their most successful subjects back. If they can't make her back into what she was, they'll use her to try and make more." Maria took a moment to take a deep breath and try and quell her growing nausea. "It also means-"  

"That they've been here for sometime. Preying on children with abilities or ones that no one would miss" finished Jamie, scowling through the windshield.  

"It also means that they'd need a medical supplier, probably multiple ones for the kind of things they're trying to do. I could look into that online and see who's opened their doors recently. They probably mask themselves as something like vet clinics or something. Buying out old large animal practices would be an easy way to conceal large purchases for a time. Maybe cancer clinics as well" added Joan, making notes on her phone on what to look up later. While all of this was progress and gave them something to follow, it didn't make Maria feel any better in terms of what Natasha was up against.


	4. Chapter 4

Natasha woke up to the all too familiar feeling of something working it's way through her blood stream. She'd noticed her hair had begun to turn blonde back like it had been when she was much younger. Since she'd been free of any chemical enhancements at SHIELD, it had save the Red Room scientists the time of having to flush her system. Now it seemed they were starting with a clean slate and the pain that came with her injections was something that she had forgotten. As for the rest of it all, it surprised her how easily she had slipped back into routine. It probably shouldn't have considering how much of her life they'd taken from her, but at least it kept her from any excessive punishments.  

She was making sure Charlie was comfortable when she spotted one of Tony's small drones coming through the air vent. Charlie was about to yell out in surprise when Natasha covered his mouth. The drone quickly disguised itself against the wall before revealing itself again. Maria was coming for her and now knew where she was. Natasha let out a sigh of relief.  

The problem was that Natasha knew it couldn't just be her. She couldn't leave these others here, regardless of what experiments had been done to them. On the plus side, it wasn't the children's hospital all over again. Those words would always haunt her just like the actions, but only three people actually knew what happened and why she had done it. Not even Clint and Phil found out during their deprogramming of her. Maria, Nick, and Bruce were the only ones that knew that the hospital had been a cover for more Red Room experiments and they'd brought Natasha with them so that they could continue her therapy. Natasha had regained consciousness at one point and seen the state of the other children in the hospital beds. They were no longer children. They were just this side of human, the experiments causing them horrific amounts of pain. The ones who could still speak quietly moaned from their beds and the others were in too much pain to make a sound. She had injected sedatives into their IVs and let them know peace for once as they died. Then she had set the place on fire. Had there been anyone that could still function, she would have carried them out along with her. But she had been the only thing resembling a human there, what little there was left. She had been fourteen. She was afraid that the same thing would happen here too if she left without the others.  

"He comes too" she said clearly to the drone making sure they could read her lips on the off chance the thing didn't transmit sound. "Charlie comes too. They all do. We can't leave them here" said Natasha. If the drone understood, there was no indication but she knew Maria was somewhere on the other end and would figure something out.  

* * *

One of the few contacts Maria still had was Charles Xavier. After explaining the situationXavier agreed to not only house the children but provide them with whatever care they needed as well as keeping them hidden. When it came to gearing up to go in, they were a less than overwhelming presence. Jamie and Joan would be a safe distance away waiting with the group that Xavier would provide to transport the children.  

Maria had never worried that Natasha wouldn't be alright. Natasha was stronger than she gave herself credit for and Maria would be there for her every moment of her recovery. For the moment though, she, Sharon, Steve, and Clint were gearing up for the rescue. With a handful of other former SHIELD providing them with back up. As Clint drove them to the place they'd gain entrance from, Maria kept reminding herself that this was going to work. They strategized long into the night and prepared as best they could for every possible turn of events.  

* * *

Pinned. They both were. It's how all of Natasha's fights against Cameron wound up ending. Natasha explained the little she knew of what was coming while they fought and Cameron had agreed that she Griffin would assist in any way they could and get a few of the others to help as well.  

Until then though Cameron was struggling. Natasha had seen the incisions on the side and back of her neck. According to Griffin, Red Room had shaved off part of her amygdala to lessen her fear response. It hadn't worked out that way and instead had resulted in Cameron shutting herself off from most people so she didn't react. It was a habit Natasha had used for many years until she'd gone off and joined SHIELD. Whatever they had injected into the girl had given her more focus and aggression. They had given them knives this time and the younger girl was more than adept with one.  

It was how Natasha got to see what made the girl so valuable but also how they had control over her. Cameron had her mostly pinned and was going to strike a powerful blow. Natasha watched her pupils and saw her fighting whatever bloodlust had been chemically manufactured and injected into her. All of this happened within a split second because in the next moment the knife was coming down and Cameron stabbed it into her own thigh. She had rolled off of Natasha in pain and suddenly there were arms pulling Natasha away as another man approached the girl with a thin device. There was a high pitched sound and Cameron was in convulsions with blood coming from her nose and ears as blood spurted from where the knife was still in her thigh.  

"Get her back to her room so that she can recover. We will have to adjust the dosage of her meds to lessen her resistance as soon as she is in stable condition." A regenerator. A soldier with that sort of ability would be unstoppable but only if they could control her. They couldn't and Natasha and SHIELD planned to use that to their advantage.


	5. Chapter 5

When the fighting started, Natasha remembered. She remembered a girl that Red Room had done some of the same experiments they'd done on her. Remembered seeing her in Sao Paulo in the children's ward. She couldn't help but think she'd seen Cameron's face somewhere else too, but when she was with Maria.  

For Cameron, she couldn't contain the urge to fight and the simmering bloodlust that was injected with the adrenaline mixture they gave her, but she could still control her focus and who she took it out on. She and Griffin, along with some of the others, provided a barrier as Natasha and her team mates got all the less mobile and younger children out. Griffin's ability was teleportation but he couldn't go very far, maybe about five miles if he really pushed it. At the moment he couldn't go more than thirty yards, but that was fine when it came to slamming guards into walls and support beams. Maria had brought a small EMP device that took out the wrist bands and door locks.  

Clint, Steve, and Sharon fought a large group head on with Cameron and the others and watched as the girl absorbed the blows but was able to keep fighting. It wasn't until a face that Natasha had thought or at least hoped was long dead appeared, that they began to lose ground. He was one of the doctors from when she had still been part of the program. He had the device that had been used on Cameron before, but from this angle Natasha could see how the scars on the side of her neck seemed flare painfully before she dropped into convulsions again. Seeing that they still had a trigger over the girl, Natasha felt something break.  

Maria had been fighting with the others, but had been making sure everyone got loaded up and away safely. The whole rescue took no more than twelve minutes, but it still seemed far too long. She was making one last pass through the cells, making sure no one was left behind, when she heard an all too familiar sound. Natasha had described it to her when she told her of her past, and she had seen it once when she had been captured and nearly broken. It was why Red Room had gone after ballerinas when they were so young.  

Had it not been for what was actually taking place, there would have been a certain amount of beauty in it. It was a death dance that was done with elegance and precision. As Natasha spun, the blades in her hands sliced through skin and arteries of the on coming wave of enemies. Griffin recognized what was happening and got Steve out of the way while Maria helped Sharon with the girl. Clint had seen it before but it still struck him with a mixture of awe and horror.  

If one was to look at the bodies afterwards, absent of all the blood, they wouldn't find large gashes or slices on the bodies. The bodies would actually appear quite peaceful. It would only be on closer inspection that one would spot the precise and deliberate small cut to the femoral arteries or jugular veins and other critical points on the body. Almost like surgical incisions. As they should be with how much training Red Room put into teaching such details and they did not stand for anything less than perfection. But that would come later and be someone else's job and only be noticed if they could get past all the blood. The blood not only painted a picture of a deadly adversary with the way it arced and painted the floor, walls, and ceiling, it also distracted. Usually, investigators were so overwhelmed by all the blood and bodies, they weren't all that eager to pursue the one who had spilled it.  

When Natasha had finished with the soldiers that hadn't fled, she abruptly dropped the blades, realizing what she'd done. Looking down at herself, she saw her white clothes were now spattered in blood. While she felt they had all gotten what they deserved for how they had treated the children here, she couldn't help but think she'd also given them exactly what they wanted. In her blind rage, she'd turned back into their monster. It made her want to cry. She turned, and to her horror found Maria a few steps behind her. Maria simply extended her hand with a small smile and the words "Let's go home."

Despite the cramped way it made them sit, Maria kept Natasha in her lap the whole ride back, hugging the red head to her. Natasha had a death grip around her shoulders, afraid that Maria might disappear if she let go. It wasn't until they were safely back in their room at Jamie's that they relaxed enough to fall asleep, still curled up next to each other.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the BAMF Natasha chapter but don't worry the BAMF Maria chapter is coming!


	6. Chapter 6

Setting the charges and making sure the area was clear was a task Maria left to the others. She knew it was why Clint and Jamie had wanted Sharon here. To make sure she was up for this, could be a part of this and not be another thing they had to worry about. It wasn't usual or professional of Maria and she wouldn't stand for it if the positions were reversed, but she wasn't thinking about that now. Right now she was thinking that she wasn't just entering a facility that was holding her lover, to a certain extent she was entering a place that Natasha had told her about only to rid herself of the horrific memories and nightmares.  

Maria shook her head clear and by the time Steve told her they were ready and she felt Sharon's hand on her shoulder, her mind was completely focused on the mission at hand. Before the dust cleared, they were in and taking out soldiers they met. Sharon let go of two drones that went out to two hubs that sent out signals to both the wrist tasers and door locks. Landing on them, the gave off an centralized EMP pulse that shut both down before flying off to do the same to the surveillance system.  

Stark's drones had provided them with an accurate and detailed layout of the facility, which was nice to have for once when on a mission. Maria led Xavier's extraction team to the children with the most critical of injuries. Although Maria had wanted nothing more than to be the one to rescue Natasha, she knew she couldn't. This needed to be a quick extraction, and Maria taking the time to execute every HYDRA or Red Room soldier or doctor she found would only make things take longer. She made every shot she took one to kill, just as she'd been trained, but it was only because she wanted to spare the children the sight that she didn't make any head shots. Even the quick glimpses she saw of the experiments done on the children earned every doctor and nurse there a painfully slow death. She met Charlie as well and personally loaded him on to one of the vans but asked that he be sent back to Jamie's. She knew Natasha would want to see that he was safe with her own eyes.  

It was then that she went to help the others finish up. She saw Sharon dragging a girl back towards the exit and a boy teleport Steve clear of whatever was going on. It was then that she witnessed Natasha's dance of death for the second time. The first time, was during her rescue. Maria had been beaten as part of the interrogation and her eye was swollen and she was barely conscious but she remembered the faint feeling of being hit with a splatter of blood. For some reason, it had reassured her and let her know she was safe. She remembered a shadow figure and flash of red hair as well before passing out. This time she could see it all clearly in it's lethal performance. It's something that seems in a strange way uniquely Natasha with the way she moves.  When it ends, Natasha seems to come back to herself with a look of horror and the blades drop from her hands as if they were electrified.  

Maria isn't afraid. She never has been. Not even now, with Natasha's white pants and top covered in blood splatters and fine blood mists. With the wild look in her eye, Maria should be afraid that the Widow might lash out. Even if she did, Maria wouldn't care. She extends her hand and says what she's been wanting to say since all this started.  

"Let's go home."  

Natasha takes her hand and they leave the facility behind.  


	7. Chapter 7

She'd changed into a large shirt and shorts before they fell asleep in their room at Jamie's when they'd first arrived. Having anticipated her needs, Jamie or maybe it was Joan had left another clean set in the bathroom for after she'd had a shower. Natasha had nearly scrubbed herself raw trying to get not only the blood but also any other trace the facility had left on her.  

She returned to the bed when she felt clean enough and watched Maria sleep. The woman beside her who had gone from being Assistant Director of SHIELD to being reduced to next to nothing by the courts and media, and reached out to the allies she still had to get her back. Even those with less than legal methods and others she didn't especially like working with. Working with Jamie's contacts often meant ignoring some other large smuggling operation and dealing with Xavier often meant dealing with the X-Men and that tended to mean anything goes. Maria had made it all work even when Natasha had made the rescue mission harder by making it more than just her. She had come for her. If there was one thing that Red Room made sure to teach her when she was younger it was self reliance. That she had to be able to do everything herself because no one else was going to be there for her. For some reason she'd never had any trouble believing Maria would be there for her.  

She could feel herself start to shake and knew that it meant that she was due for another injection of whatever it was they'd been giving her. She hadn't noticed yet, but Maria had woken up and was watching her, still marveling at the fact that Natasha was actually here by her side again. Natasha was worried about how much Maria might have seen. She hadn't meant to... hadn't intended... Watching Cameron collapse under their control was a reminder of two things: that they had both survived and escaped, and that they probably wouldn't this time because they were taking active measures against it. She remembered Cameron's face in Sao Paulo. It had been the 1960's she thinks. Cameron was four years older than she was but always seemed a bit younger. Maybe that was due to the experiments they did on her brain. In that moment, watching her fall, Natasha felt herself transported through time. Back to when they were both little girls. She couldn't let history repeat itself.  

"You didn't give them anything they didn't deserve." Maria's voice jars her from her thoughts, ones she seemed to know already.  

"But I gave them what they wanted. Proof that all their years of training and drills resulted in a deadly weapon. I didn't have to- there were enough of us there to get the job done without me giving them a show" explained Natasha, tears starting down her face. Maria sat up and wrapped Natasha against her like she knew calmed her. Listening to Maria's heartbeat often helped settle her. One of the reasons Natasha never saw Maria's need for her cuddly ridiculous creature was because she had never needed anything other than Maria.  

"I didn't mean to loose control like that" said Natasha into Maria's collar bone.  

"You mean in your efforts to keep the people we were rescuing and the members of your team safe, you didn't mean to use what I would call a rather effective method to take down multiple attackers at once when we were in danger of being out numbered?" rephrased Maria. Natasha said nothing but nuzzled closer and Maria wrapped her tighter in the blankets, the effects of the meds playing with Natasha's senses.  

"I didn't expect it to come back so...easily. None of it. The routine, the feel of the meds going through me, the way things worked. Cameron remembered quicker than I did. She had Griffin. I think she was keeping herself safe as well as him. She could hold on to that bit of humanity that let her look out for Charlie and the others too."  

"If she hadn't, if you hadn't, what were you afraid would happen?" asked Maria. She'd seen Natasha come so far from what she used to be and couldn't quite understand what Natasha saw herself in danger of instantly becoming.  

"At a certain point, you sort of just separate yourself. Remove yourself from what is going on. The killing is so rote you can do it without thinking and you kind of do. You just stop when there's nothing moving anymore. I was afraid that they'd put me in one of the fight rooms and one of those times my mind would separate but then I'd come back to myself to see that I'd just killed a room full of children. I wouldn't put it past them to do that sort of thing to break me. Now that I think about it though, they probably planned to use Charlie and make the most of having me room and care for him. Then I'd just emotionally shut down. It's safer.  I'm just glad I came back to myself when all the soldiers were dead and before I killed you and the others."  

"I don't think you would have.  I think you're stronger than you give yourself credit for because that place, those people, and your past with them make it so easy to forget."  

Natasha explained all of this as if they were possible plays from a game handbook, but they let Maria know how close she'd come to losing her. She supposed she owed Cameron, Griffin, and Charlie her thanks for helping Natasha hold on.

Hearing footsteps in the hall, they knew their little reprieve was going to end in a few minutes so they chose to just snuggle and hold each other, forgetting about the numerous ways they might have been too late or things could have gone wrong.  

"I love all of you. Your strength that not only helped you keep it together until we came for you, but had you looking out for the others as well. I also love the lethal parts of you, the parts that scare even you at times because while you're scared that you might use them against the wrong people you've only ever used them while protecting others. I love you Natalia Alianova Romanov, and nothing is going to scare me away" whispered Maria into her ear.  


	8. Chapter 8

"There is also someone waiting for you downstairs" mentions Maria as she and Natasha make their way down. Natasha raises a curious eyebrow from beneath the hood of one of Maria's hoodies. Her shakes have lessened some but she still can't seem to get warm.  

At the landing, she spots Charlie and races down the remaining steps and pulls him into a hug. "The drugs he's been on have been analyzed and we can make it so that you can regain movement in your upper body as well. Reverse whatever they've been doing to your signal column" explains Sharon to Natasha and Charlie.  

Looking around the room, Maria notices the presence of not only Clint and Steve but also Jamie, Joan, Cameron, and Griffin. Without getting a visit from Fury or Phil, Maria was surprised she'd managed to rally this many allies. Six may not seem like many to some, and with two that wouldn't be used in any cobalt capacity, their number was even fewer. But then they still had yet to lay all their cards on the table.  

"So, you and Natasha know each other" started Clint, once Joan had taken Charlie to his waiting ride. This drew Sharon and Steve's attention as well as Joan's. Jamie met Cameron and Natasha's eye's briefly before gazing into her teacup.  

"Cameron is actually a year older than Maria if we're using our current ages. If we're going to use our actual ages, well then we're more around Steve's actual age starting from the time he was born and including the years he was frozen." Natasha sipped at her tea while the others processed the information and Cameron nibbled at a cookie. Steve summed it best for the group.  

"What?"  

Cameron leaned forward and set most of her cookie back on her plate. "The code name Black Widow is well known and so is her reputation. Her career spans decades, but the quality of the work would have changed, so would the skills she was best in, the languages she spoke. Unless the same professional had been doing the work for all those years. Red Room trains us in our skills. Drills them into us until we can do it from rote memory. And the only way they allow us to continue to train is until we know it perfectly" explains Cameron, in the emotionless tone they've come to know from Natasha. She tends to use it when she's separating herself from an experience.  

"What happens if you make a mistake? I mean, part of learning is making mistakes" asks Joan.  

Steve feels a growing sense of unease at the shared look between Cameron and Natasha.  

"Depending where we are in the training sequence and if the skill was needed soon, blowtorch or electroshock" answered Natasha with a shrug.  "You've been out and about before your recapture, do you know anyone else that's up for helping us track down the rest of the Red Room connection?" asks Natasha of Cameron.  

"Now hold on a second Tasha-" starts Clint.  

"No. I won't have another situation like the children's hospital or that facility we just rescued all those kids from! They'll end up like me and Cameron, killing for years, decades, until we find someone who offers us a soul and a second chance. A different and unforeseen option. Cameron?"  

"Sure, Burton. Barry Burton" replies Cameron with a nod.  

Natasha cocks her head. Something is familiar about that. Cameron gives her a smirk. That smirk she remembers vividly. It always meant she had something up her sleeve. Maria also knows that smirk because it's the same one Natasha wears when she's up to something.  

"Vasily. Vasily Fet" answers Cameron this time. Natasha's eyes widen in realization.  

"Um, a little help?" asks Sharon.  

"He's another one of us from Red Room. You were already going after them. You got captured on purpose" explains Natasha for the others.  

"Wait, you let them experiment on you?" asks Steve, not hiding his horror.  

"There wasn't really an option" says Griffin, Clint starting at both hearing him speak for the first time during the discussion and hearing his English accent.  

The sudden appearance of a faint bullet hole forming on Cameron's forehead draws the attention back to her. It quickly fades only to be replaced by other wounds that have occurred on her face. Sharon reaches up and pulls up her sleeve to reveal more wounds showing up on her arms. Sharon looks ready to ask something but then rushes the woman, with Steve's help, to the bathroom where she throws up blood. Griffin makes it to the kitchen sink and is supported by Jamie and Joan while Natasha beats Maria and Clint to the upstairs bathroom.  

Maria holds her hair back and rubs her back as Natasha violently retches what looks to be a black liquid that is probably is all that's left of the chemicals in her system. She recalls Natasha mentioning something about the injections containing supplements and without another dose to smooth things out, her body must have won the fight and gotten rid of them. She guesses Cameron's were modified for her regenerative abilities and Griffin's for his but they all had the same result.  

If Maria had had any doubts before, they're gone now.  This is only the after effects of the drugs.  She and Clint can barely hold her steady as her body spasms and shudders with each heave.  Natasha told her that when they were being injected they felt like burning liquid as they started to go through your veins.  Then, when things were still, like when you were trying to go to sleep or not focus on the pain from the last fight, you could almost feel it running through you.  Just below your skin.  And that was only if you were getting the basics.  Some made you feel as if you were being burned from the inside out.  Having heard this and then learned that they were injecting Charlie directly into his spinal column had helped make up her mind, but holding Natasha's hair back as she all but collapsed having finally finished, she hoped Charlie didn't have this to go through as well.  

As soon as she was up to it, Cameron would set up a meet with Barry and they'd all regroup and see where they stood.  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kevin Durand. In The Strain he was Vasilly and in Resident Evil Retribution he was Barry. In both he was kick ass and as Vasilly he strikes me as Red Room material.


	9. Chapter 9

It's morning and they're waiting for word back from Barry. Natasha can see the thoughts swirling in Maria's head, her lover sitting up and not noticed that she's awake.  

"Cameron is older, but we tend to treat her like the younger sibling. Red Room experimented on her mind. They tried to rid her of her empathy and sense of fear. It didn't work out that way, she now gets overwhelmed by her emotions at times, and when she pushes herself too far it results in brain hemorrhages. Red Room never took the time to fix that problem since she heals herself and given a few hours or a day at most, would be good as new.  

They also took more from her. I made sure to remember who I was, Natalia, and Vasily did the same. Cameron isn't her real name, but after one of her procedures she couldn't remember anymore. There was a lot she couldn't remember anymore. Most of my past I've forgotten because it's been so long and because of all my time with Red Room. Part of it was brainwashing, but when you get started, in those first months you work so hard and are pushed so far that you forget everything else. All you want at the end of the day is to know that you've been adequate and are allowed to go to bed. But I still vaguely remember my first ballet performance, gliding across the stage. Jumping and being lifted by what at the time felt like Thor. Not that the dancer was memorable, simply that it was effortless and just like in the performance, I felt like I was flying. I remember the chocolate candies that I used to love and you somehow managed to find" says Natasha as she wraps her arms around Maria from behind and pulls her back with her towards the pillows.  

"She now remembers nothing. No precious memories of her own. Vasily and I were two of their other most promising subjects and saw that they became very panicked when Cameron seemed to break. Vasily and I had to shadow her on a number of missions and eliminate her if she couldn't get the job done. That part of her wasn't broken. Still, while she's like Tony when it comes to inventing things, and as skilled as I am as a killer in her own ways, figuring out her emotions is still a process for her since usually it causes her a seizure. But I want to make this clear"  At this point, Natasha gets on her knees in front of Maria on the bed and takes her face in her hands. Making sure they are looking at each other right in the eyes. "I'm not leaving you for her if that's what you're thinking, so get that thought out of your head. If anything, my relationship with her is like yours with Sharon. I am protective of her and care for her, but I love you Maria Hill." Maria holds her gaze for a few moments before nodding and pulling Natasha into a deep kiss followed by a fierce hug.  

* * *

The repair shop where they meet Barry Burton looks like it's been just barely making ends meet for a while now. The devices on the shelves range from air conditioners to radios to computers. The man that extends a hand towards them is huge, towering over them at a good six and a half feet tall. He doesn't seem all that impressed at the sight of Maria Hill and Sharon Carter coming into his shop followed by Hawkeye and Captain America. He looks ready to say something when Griffin sits on one of the counters but Cameron yanks him off, getting a smile from the giant. His face shows genuine shock though at the sight of Natasha.  

"Well, I'll be damned. Nat! If you're vouching for the boys here, I won't kick them out of my shop."  

Sharon raises an eyebrow. "Just the boys?"  

"Sure. It's common knowledge that you help set ground work and do the heavy lifting for Fury when it needs discretion. Now that Nat's on every little girl's back to school gear, she can't go and you do. Maria Hill here, second in command and the one answering all the heavy questions. Taking all the hits and trying to recover what's left. Nice magic act, and you're good at. Most aren't. The boys here though. I guess the bird doesn't cause me any problems, but 1940's isn't exactly hard to spot as long as he keeps dressing like he's still in that year. Makes people like me, Cameron, and Nat here more visible if all Red Room has to do is look for the plaid" answers Barry as he leans against the wall and crosses his arms. Sharon bites her lip to hide her smile but Barry sees it. Sharon really needs to take Steve shopping.  

"You sound as Russian as she does" says Steve cocking his head towards Natasha.  

"And having met her, you were expecting something else? Also, I'm Ukrainian."  

"Where are _you_ from?" asks Clint of Cameron.  

"I don't remember" mutters Cameron. The archer feels like kicking himself and it's written all over his face. Natasha goes to hug Barry and gets lifted in the air as he returns it. As she smiles and laughs, Maria gets a glimpse of the little girl Natasha once was.  

"So where are you two with things?" asks Natasha once her feet are back on the ground.  

"Well, Red Room has expanded to here in New York, Chicago, and Portland but the main testing facility, where they were getting ready to ship the two of you off to, is still back home.  There's still some last minute clean up here, but Cam and I leave in four days" states Barry.  

"Oy!" barks out Griffin in protest but he stops at Natasha's raised hand.  

"I'm coming too and by the sound of it, so is Griffin, so get two more tickets."  

Barry and Natasha looked at each other while Cameron holds a silent conversation with Griffin.  The rest of the room had erupted into loud arguing.  


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> fallacies sunt rerum species 
> 
> Appearances are deceptive

Amid all the loud arguing, Natasha feels Maria squeeze her hand in support. She also realizes that Sharon is arguing that she can't oversee the shutdowns on her own. Cameron tucks in next to her, her eyes tightly shut and wincing at all the noise and Sharon puts a protective arm around her. While Cameron can't see Steve's glare, there's no doubt that she can feel it. Natasha has a brief moment to adjust to the fact that she sees both Sharon and Cameron as sisters, when Maria's voice cuts through all the noise.  

" _ **ENOUGH!**_ I think that what some of us are forgetting is that we are deal with three Red Room assassins here" says Maria once everyone has quieted.  

"Meaning?" says Steve, earning him an elbow and a glare from Sharon. 

"Meaning they are highly trained professionals. The best in the world in fact, and know the area and tactics they will encounter better than anyone else. Also, incredibly stubborn and going whether we agree or not.  My only suggestion would be taking Barton along as well in case an emergency extraction is needed at some point and as a grounding force. Cameron can use Barry and Griffin to bring her back to the present, but Barton is a more familiar face for Natasha at this point." Barry nodded towards Clint, who hadn't expected an argument. Despite his demeanor, he seemed to really care about the women and was looking out for them.  

"I can't go because I'll undoubtably be called to court again for Talbot's fun, and I'll be helping Sharon oversee the shut down of the other facilities." Natasha knew this, and knew it was also probably for the best since it would keep her better focused, but it still gave her a hollow feeling in her chest. She tightened her hold on Maria's hand.  

"This shouldn't be happening! We shouldn't be sending one of our own with people we don't know!" argued Steve. Natasha might have felt pity for him if things weren't so dire and happening so quickly. It was what, the fourth time things had been turned on their head for him in as many weeks? Still, they didn't have time for this.  

"Excuse me, she's _not_ the only one going Cap. I've got her back, but they've got it too. Don't worry" assured Clint. Cameron rolled her eyes.  

"Something you care to _share_? What is your last name by the way?" asks Steve with an edge in his voice. Sharon positions herself in front of Cameron, much to Steve's displeasure, but the woman didn't seem worried in the slightest.  

"Phillips or Soto, take your pick. They were my most commonly used aliases. As for sharing, _fallacies sunt rerum species_ " replies Cameron before following Clint out of the store.  

"What's that supposed to mean?" shouts Steve, about to charge after her. Barry's voice stops him cold.  

"Means 'Lorraine' was sitting four feet from you and you didn't recognize her. Haven't you been coordinating Nat's rescue with her for like three days?  She's always been a friend of ours"  he finishes with a shrug.  

It took everything in Natasha not to take a picture, and in the end she couldn't help it. Steve looked as if someone had just smacked him in the face with his shield. Sharon was raising an eyebrow at him at his stuck expression.  

"What just happened?" whispered Maria.  

"Cap Roger's history just bit him in the ass" explained Barry as he went back to tinkering with whatever he'd been working on when they'd walked in.  

* * *

The walk home was awkward, Maria and Natasha having taken the car to run some errands, mainly because Steve kept apologizing to Sharon. Sharon found this beyond odd since they weren't even dating, so why should she care who he slept with decades ago? Personally, she didn't even want to let her mind wander in that direction because then you got into the Aunt Peggy area.... and _yeah_. Steve had also been keeping a not so discreet eye on Cameron and it was getting on Sharon's last nerve. She came to a complete stop and put her hand against Steve's chest to make him stop too.  

"I have the feeling you're not trying to be a total dick on purpose, but you are. I need you to pull your head out of your ass, because we're joining _their_ fight. Natasha is allowing us to help her, don't make her regret it, or have you sit this one out. Barry, Cameron, and Griffin? They were already committed to this before Natasha got taken and stumbled on to all this. So, pull it together. You made the right call when it came to SHIELD, it all needed to go. But this? Yeah, HYDRA is involved, but Red Room was never our personal demon. They never invaded us on a genetic and surgical level. They went from being ballerinas to the world's most feared assassins. You volunteered to become a super soldier, Steve. They signed up to _dance_."  

With that, Sharon resumed walking, trying to catch up with the others who were all waiting a chatting a short distance ahead. Steve was sorting his thoughts and thinking about what Sharon had said. When he looked up though, he saw Cameron rush Sharon and push her into a wall in an alley and was about to charge her when four shots rang out. Five. Cameron went down. Griffin had teleported somewhere and Clint had a gun and was having trouble maintaining good cover behind a stoop while Steve had his shield but couldn't see the attackers. Then there they were, running towards them, but a cement wall would keep them safe from Steve and him open to fire. Suddenly they were hit from behind by a sedan. The force behind it not to mention the audible sound of bones cracking and the fractured windshield made it pretty certain they were dead, but Clint confirmed it anyway. Griffin stepped from behind the wheel.  

"Car accident leaves fewer questions than bullet holes" he said by explanation. With a groan Cameron started to sit up.  

"You okay?" called Griffin.  

"What was that? Five? Tell me they're dead so I feel better" complained Cameron.  

"Hit 'em with a car" answered Griffin.  

"And it's clean?"  

"Yep"  

Clint watched the whole interaction with amusement. A little teacher student moment. Natasha would be so _proud_ , her little sister was growing up!  

"You stepped directly into those shots" commented Sharon, who had picked herself up and had her gun ready in seconds but no clear shot.  

"Wasn't sure if I'd gotten you completely clear, and didn't want to take any chances. You okay?" asked Cameron. Sharon nodded, the expression on the woman's face sort of like a child's. She could see what Natasha had meant when she'd mentioned that they sort of looked after her. It was the expression a young child gets when they're worried they might have let you down. Sharon knew Cameron was really concerned if she was injured, but she wondered how much of that was also conditioning. What would the consequence have been if she had been? On second thought, she'd rather not know. The group quickly left the area before drawing any attention.  

* * *

"You know why I can't go" said Maria calmly. It wasn't just her duty here. She wanted to stay with Natasha and make sure she was safe, but she'd only be a liability to them there. Natasha nodded. She knew these reasons too, but it didn't stop the tears from falling down her face. She wasn't sure she _could_ do this without Maria. Clint could talk and bring her back from a lot, but going back home and facing her tormentors in one of the very places she'd escaped from? It was only with _Maria's_ help that she was able to conquer her demons at all. It was Maria who coaxed her back to reality when she awoke from nightmares unsure of who and where she was. It was Maria who loved her despite all her mess and told her as often as she needed to hear it.  

Clint and Coulson may have been the ones to debrief her but they didn't know the half of it. Coulson had then shared the debriefing with the other Avengers and Clint had broken his nose. Phil had felt that most of the pasts of the other members were pretty straight forward or could be easily found out. Since the same couldn't be said of Natasha, he felt he could at least share what they did know to let them know who they were trusting their lives to. It had been the beginning of a long rough patch in Phil and Clint's relationship. Still, despite what he had told them, the only ones who truly had any idea were Maria and Sharon from the few time she'd opened up to her. Bruce and Fury knew a bit as well, but that was it. Well, other than Cameron and Barry of course.  

 _Could she do this?_ She closed her eyes and the young faces entered her mind again. She saw Charlie, a failed attempt at transferring Pietro Maximoff's ability for speed which had cost him his legs. Stark could probably come up with something, give him the ability to walk again, but it would never be the same. He'd already experienced the pain, something Red Room and HYDRA were both individually gifted at and now had joined forces.  

She had no doubt that she could do this, and Barry and Cameron didn't have any either since they were already planning to go before she added herself, Clint, and Griffin to their roster. The only remaining question was _did they really stand a chance at being successful?_


	11. Chapter 11

It was still fairly early when Maria picked the others up again in the car.  

"So, where have you been staying Cam? Please don't tell me you've been staying with Barry. I mean I love him, but you need a diet of more than jerky, vodka, and sugary cereals" said Natasha.  

"What's wrong with that?" asks Clint.  

"Case and point" mumbles Maria from the driver's seat.  

Cameron sighs and leans between the two front seats and gives Maria directions that lead her to a country estate. There's a high electric hum that can nearly be heard, but it's there and it has Natasha and the others on edge.  

"It's okay! They're with me" calls out Cameron, and the hum shuts off.  

"You rigged a security system for her didn't you?" asks Clint. Cameron gives him a shy half smile and shrugs as she makes her way to the door. Natasha does nothing to hide her proud smile, glad to see Cameron making the most of her nonlethal talents. The front door is then opened to reveal Margot Verger.  

* * *

"Are you two...seeing each other?" asks Steve, earning him a look from both Natasha and Sharon for possibly the most awkward and bluntly asked question ever.  

"No. But the impression that we are keeps my brother at bay" answers Margot as she escorts them all to the library.  

"I thought he was confined to the home?" asks Clint. Steve had a puzzled look on his face, having no idea what was being discussed.  

"My brother's psychiatrist took advantage of him, unfortunately not before he did me. Anyway, he's a former Red Room doctor." Natasha's head snapped up quick, turning from Margot to Cameron and back again.  

"The details of the injuries to your brother's face were never known, even to us at SHIELD" remarked Maria.  

Margot raised her eyebrows slightly in surprise as sat down.

"He fed his face to a pack of stray dogs like was jerky. Completely willingly. Dr. Hannibal can't be blamed because not only was he not there, but Mason says it was his choice. Along with the fact that he got hungry so he ate his nose. Some form of drugs were involved but they had left his system by the time test were done."  

"But that wasn't the _only_ encounter you've had with Red Room" says Maria in a careful slow and steady voice.  

"No, I may be a lesbian, but for a fleeting moment to get around my father's will and also because I stupidly indulged the fantasy of motherhood, I wanted a child. Mason hired Red Room doctors to see that that could never happen."  

"Wait, your brother made you infertile?" asked Clint, any trace of his usual humor now gone. Margot stood up and pulled her shirt free from her pants. Lifting it, she revealed an eight to ten inch scar across her abdomen.  

"He made it look like a car accident. I knew he was going to do something, and was actually leaving town when he got me.  Had one of his hired men hit my car, but then hired the Red Room doctors to make it so that the hospital surgeons would say that a hysterectomy was the only option. Also he wanted me to have the scar. He's a bit of a sentimentalist.

Anyway, I was glad to help Cameron track down those doctors. My brother no longer has me under his thumb and has suffered more than enough seeing as how he'll never be able to eat anything unless it's through a straw, but I don't want those men walking among people either" explained Margot as she tucked back in her shirt.  

 

The image of Margot's scar still fresh in their minds, it was then that they realized what they were truly dealing with. Red Room hadn't just expanded, some had retired from the organization and gone into business for themselves. Setting up practices and mutilating innocent people for hire. Margot calls out where the bathroom is as Griffin dashes from the room. Clint looks about ready to join him.  

"I'll leave you to show them all you've found? Should I get more for lunch?" asks Margot.  

"Not if it's any trouble" starts Sharon. Margot rolls her eyes.  

"This may be my family's country estate, but we're talking Taco Bell for lunch" says Margo with a smirk. Maria nods, glad to see that Cameron had someone she could turn to. Both women had their traumas, but also seemed to be providing each other with support.  

* * *

Cameron had showed them what she'd managed to track down and how and then left them to go over everything after lunch, themselves. Steve and Clint had gone over the security system and were fairly impressed. It had multiple relays but was all wireless for the most part, which made tampering and hacking into the system impossible due to how well it was all configured. Which was thankfully, very simple and could be done from any device so long as Margot was the one doing so. There were enough tripwires and traps in the system that anyone attempting to get in or hack in would be thwarted before getting anywhere near Margot and she could either escape, go into lockdown, attack the intruder herself. The lockdown option also put the home into defensive mode, but made keeping Margot safe the priority rather than letting her face the attacker.  

It was close to the kind of stuff Tony would come up with on the fly from scratch. Infrared sensors, and an ground water system that had been totally re worked down to turning the sprinkler heads into weapons from all what looked like repurposed parts from Barry's store.  

Once they'd been through everything as well as all the tacos, Maria found Cameron dozing with her head in Margot's lap while Nick Park's clay animation series Creature Comforts played on the TV in the front room. Cameron was curled on her side, similar to a cat as she slept. The boys managed to drop something in the next room that clattered loudly to the floor and seemed to echo.  

"She definitely trusts you and feels safe her, that's for sure. Otherwise, she would have popped right up with a gun ready. When we feel safe though, we can sleep through the end of days" says Natasha from the doorway with a smile.  

"She helped me feel safe again. I mean I used to relax by riding my horse, but I couldn't do that for a while afterwards. I went a little stir crazy and that led to paranoia and panic attacks. Both fairly common when dealing with my brother on a long term basis. When I told her what he did to me, Barry was here too. The man marched out ready to kill my brother right then. Honestly, I felt safer when she tackled him and kept my brother from adding another head to his wall. Even if it did look like a toddler demanding a piggyback ride." Maria and Natasha laugh, imagining Cameron trying to find a good angle to tackle Barry from much less one that would actually be effective against him.  

"Now I can live in this house again. I was fine for the two weeks she was gone and didn't flip out. Also, I'm one of the few people who thanks mostly to my brother, know the number of some very discreet doctors who were able to help her when she needed it."  Maria and Natasha told her that they'd see her tomorrow and saw themselves out, satisfied that Cameron would be safe.  

* * *

Margot went to the kitchen to discover that Sharon and Clint were clearing things up and washing the few dishes they'd used.  

"I'd remark on how domestic this all looks except for the fact that you both know multiple ways to kill me. What do you want to know?" Sharon didn't even try to hide her smile while Clint hung his head to hide his laughter.  

"The Verger family is filthy rich with an emphasis on filth, given how my brother used to spend his time and continues to do so even now, but we aren't stupid. Otherwise, we would have been shut down after human remains were found in some of the contents of one of the canning facilities. Instead, no complaints were made by the owners and those were the three sites of production that year. So, again, what do you want to know?" asks Margot. Although her tone could have been defensive, Margot seemed to be just stating facts.  

"Well, since I'll be traveling with her, what's Cameron like? I mean you've been around her for months" stated Clint. It's not like SHIELD had a file on her and even if they did, it'd probably be as thin as Natasha's had been when she'd arrived. They'd moved into the study, Cameron still asleep in the front room. Margot dressed as someone with her status would be thought to, but otherwise she seemed like she could be an old spy friend of Natasha's at times. There was no one place she seemed to fit. Which to a certain extent made Clint wonder how accurate her assessment of Cameron would be.  

"She's...unique. She tends to stay in her head when around new people. Not that she's slow or anything, but she's gauging how much to trust you"  

"How would she gauge that?" asks Steve as he comes in from the other doorway. Margot merely raises an eyebrow, having heard him coming.  Clint's going to have to talk to Steve about that.  He might be just getting the lay of the place, but given the level of torment Margot had gone through with her brother it was rude and cruel.  

"Probably based on how often you try to sneak up like that" says Griffin, bringing in a tray with cups of tea for everyone. He carefully sets it on the table before teleporting right behind Steve's shoulder. "She might find it annoying" says Griffin before teleporting back to where he'd been standing when served the tea. "It makes it hard to trust you, too" he remarks with a sarcastic smile. Steve looks like he would have liked the chance to hit him. Margot smirked, and resumed.  

"She plays music often, either on her iPod or through the dock speakers. Her taste ranges from everything to Jazz to Classical, to Rock...anything really. She's favoring The Mars Volta recently. When she gets to know you, you'll be able to pick up on all her facial expressions, no matter how small. Her hands like to be kept busy with something and her head always is."  

"Then there's the issue of your safety" started Sharon.  

"I doubt that I'm any better off than I was before my brother was actively destroying my happiness. Feel free to use this as a base of operations if you want. Cameron's security system will have us alerted if anyone other than us shows up."  

"What about staff?" asks Steve, having seen the beautiful horse outside.  

"I take care of my horse myself. A lot of the house hasn't been used recently, so excuse the dust. As for Red Room and what will happen to me if I'm captured. Mason is my older brother and thanks to him, I've had one of their doctor's in my head and others cut into me. I doubt it'll get anymore pleasant."  

Sharon was growing increasingly uneasy about all this. While she was committed to this more than ever, Natasha had become part of her family since she'd started seeing Maria. The more she heard, the less she liked Natasha returning there. She also couldn't help but think that at a time where former SHIELD agents were either being abducted or selling their knowledge to the highest bidder, she was finding people that had the circumstances been different, she'd be considering of recruiting them or at least counting them as SHIELD friendly allies. Maybe she still would, if they survived all this.


	12. Chapter 12

When Maria and Natasha arrived at the apartment that was under one of Maria's names, they discovered something extra in their packages. Maria discovered that Cameron had slipped an old record among their things with a post-it attached.  

Natasha set the record to play as she read the post-it that simply read ' _grounding memory_ ' in Cameron's handwriting. It started off scratchy, but then an opera singer could be heard on the old and worn recording. The song sounded beautiful to Maria and had to have been expensive for even a copy of an original recording. She doubted it was the song that was bringing tears to the Russian's eyes though. Natasha didn't bother wiping at her tears, unaware that they had even fallen.  

"It's- ah--it's an old French folk song called 'Au clair de la lune' or by the light of the moon. It's from the 18th Century. Relax, I'm not that old. She's always had a love of music. I wonder where she found it?"  Shutting off the record player, Natasha flopped on to the bed. "I wish you'd lied" she groaned. 

"What?" It wasn't the type of statement she was used to hearing from the assassin.  

"That time a new SHIELD asset broke into the home of the then Lt. Hill, and asked her if her dreams of dancing were memories or just dreams, if I had known it would eventually lead back to all of this, my mind trying to convince me I've gone crazy out of self preservation, I wish you would have lied to me. I might have believed you if you'd said it was a side effect of all Clint and Phil's deprograming." They both knew she wouldn't have. "We saw the song in a performance once as we were tailing a mark and his wife."  I told her:

" _Remember a moment like this and hold it tight. Someday we will have names that our tickets will be under when we pick them up and watch in front seats or the balcony instead of the shadows._ "  

Natasha let out a stuttering sigh. "It's almost as if I'd never left. HYDRA being in SHIELD and Red Room working with HYRDA, it feels like the world is coming apart at the seams of a baseball." Maria went over and spread out next to Natasha, looking at her in the eyes.  

"It may feel that way, but you have friends from both your life now and your life then, that are here to help you with this. This isn't solely on you, but if you think that way it will crush you. Clint carries his own weight, Cameron can from what you tell me, and Barry looks like he could carry his, Griffin's, and the weight of about twenty other people." It manages to pull a smile from Natasha. Maria leans over and presses her lips to Natasha's in a desperate kiss.  

"Your primary goal is to _come back to me alive_. I don't care if you lose control, I don't care if you abandon it entirely, I will be here when you get back and will help you deal with it in whatever way you need. But for that to happen, you have to come back. I don't care if you think you've returned a monster and don't want to put me in danger or deserve me or any of that crap. We agreed at the beginning that if we ever were going to end this, it would be face to face. Besides, I might still think you're worth it, you know."

It gets a true smile from Natasha who then presses a deep kiss on to Maria's lips as she flips her over and positions her thigh in between Maria's legs as she undoes the snap on her jeans. Maria is tugging the t shirt over her head and Natasha moves slightly to help get rid of the shirt but causes Maria to gasp and her fingers to dig into Natasha's still jean clad thighs. Natasha plays special attention to all the spots that drive Maria to the edge of madness before letting her orgasm. She likes to watch Maria's afterglow because it gives her an ethereal quality that Natasha has only read about in books of folk lore.  

Maria regains the ability to move and starts nibbling at Natasha's neck. She uses just the right amount of teeth as she goes and soothes it with her tongue after. Moving on down her chest, Natasha threads her fingers through Maria's lush hair, her hips begging for Maria's fingers to end their teasing. If there was one thing that she loved about Maria, it was the feel of her hair through her fingers. Now that Maria's mouth and fingers were all in the same place, Natasha was using her grip to try and urge her closer. Maria ended her suffering and Natasha would have been in danger of throwing her off if she hadn't had such a tight grip on her with her legs and hands. Panting next to each other, they knew it would be the first of many tonight.  

* * *

Hours later, Maria is watching Natasha sleep. She remembers asking Pepper how she knew Natasha had feelings for her. Pepper had told her about an incident that had happened while Natasha was still working undercover at Stark. Coulson had explained Natasha's cover to Pepper- he just hadn't told Tony. Pepper had been harboring some feelings of jealousy towards Natasha but this helped end all that and started their quick friendship.  

Natasha had come to her with a vague explanation of brainwashing and "because Pepper was able to follow Tony's ramblings and actually run the company better based from them, she felt it was safe to say Pepper was smart and she could trust her." Natasha had been worried that her feelings for Maria weren't entirely her own. That maybe Red Room was still using her to try and get at SHIELD's second in command. Pepper had eased her down after a panic attack and then asked her questions like 'would she still be interested in Maria if she were a bartender?' Natasha had replied yes, but that they probably would have never met. If she were a lower level agent the odds seemed greater, but she was reassured that it was Maria and not some sort of idea plant that caused the attraction.  

Even if the idea hadn't been Natasha's, Maria was grateful for every minute she's had with her. Still, she couldn't imagine the level of doubt and horror Natasha must have experienced once that thought entered her mind. It was all part of a world that she had joined SHIELD to prevent from ever existing, only to find that it had for decades already. Honestly, the fact that her girlfriend was around the same age as Aunt Peggy, didn't bother her. Well, it did, but only when she pictured her _looking_ like Aunt Peggy. _She'd give anything to erase that image from her mind now._

She remembered having sex with Natasha for the first time. It had been an experience, to be sure. Natasha seemed to be flittering between frantic passion and oversensitivity. Maria had settled things by having Natasha simply lay back on her bed. It wasn't until months later that Natasha told her that Maria had been the first sexual partner that she'd had a choice in and was actually attracted to. She had taken the time to let Natasha calm herself down a bit, drawing swirling patterns across her abdomen with her fingers. She then paid attention to every little mark on the red head's skin. Not the scars but the moles and faint dust of freckles that were just above her left breast. She saw the impressive ab muscles and the scars of her past and ignored them, far more fascinated with how circling the area around the belly button caused Natasha to let out a girlish giggle that had her blushing and her hands covering her face in embarrassment. Maria's interest is in how if she scrapes her teeth next to it, it earns her a low moan.  

Both women are known to be ice cold and as callous as their fingertips when it come to others, especially now that SHIELD has fallen, but Maria knows what it feels like to have the wind literally knocked out of her from being hit by Natasha's knee as she orgasms. She knows that despite all the wear and tear Natasha and her hair go through it's always silky smooth to the touch once it's rinsed free of dried blood. Just like Natasha knows that Maria tends to come silently but fiercely, often the way her whole body shakes and she tightens her hold on Natasha and scrapes her nails on her back is enough to bringing her with her as well. She knows that some how Maria knows how...not important, but special it is to her to wake and see her still there. Natasha also knows that even when Maria cuts her hair, she tends to leave it on the long side just for her.  

They are both trying to avoid thinking of any of these details or anything that happened last night when they get into the car the next morning. They made their time last as long as possible, sharing a shower after waking each other up, but the moment the apartment door closed everything went back to business.

Because it had to.  

* * *

Cameron is sitting on a bench outside when Steve comes and joins her.  

"Good morning" he says as he tosses her a muffin. Lemon poppyseed. Whether someone told him or it was just luck, he still gets points for it since it's her favorite.  

"You've done well here in New York. Better than I have anyway" he says as he sits down heavily.  

"Most of it's luck. You at least grew up here so there's a vague familiarity" she replies digging into her muffin.  

"You found Barry and Margot" states Steve, not sure if there's something he's missing or if Cameron is trying to be modest.  

"I found a former Red Room assassin who was trained just like Natasha and I were, and the sister of a psychotic and sadistic billionaire who amuses himself by raising man eating pigs and trains them to the sound of his sister's screams and meat dummies dressed in her clothing. There was no way to know that his sister wouldn't be just the same way, it being possibly her only defense against him. Just like there was no way for me to know that Barry wouldn't kill me on sight, having assumed I was sent to kill him.Same with Lorraine- sorry Moriarty, scheming criminal mastermind." She caught Steve's look of confusion and gave a small smirk.

"I'm betting Nat already explained how she and Barry sort of look after me? When they experimented on my brain, they were trying to get rid of my fear response. To a certain extent they succeeded I guess, definitely when I'm on a job, but when I'm on my own it just feels like they rid me of common sense. Logically, the only person I should have trusted was Nat, and she should have been the first person I sought out when I got here. I shouldn't even been staying with Margot on the off chance Mason shows up. I'm sure you can rattle off a list of at least fifty other things I'm doing that don't make sense. Thing is, in the back of my mind I know they don't but I do them anyway. I don't think I'm invincible or have a God complex or anything like that due to my regeneration, it why I tend to let others lead. I'm all in for the fight, but Nat or Barry will be making the calls."  

Steve took this in. It did make him feel a lot better that Cameron was self aware and didn't think of herself as another Tony Stark- a gift to the world. He'd seen how she'd pushed Sharon out of the way, but also how she stepped forward so that the shots hit her center mass.

They both notice when Natasha drives up and start to head back to the house.

It was time to get ready.


	13. Chapter 13

Once everyone had gathered together in the large library, Margo Verger burst into laughter and couldn't seem to stop. It took her almost five minutes to collect herself, and in that time everyone found comfortable seats and they'd also been joined by Jamie, Joan, and Barry.  

"Sorry, sorry, it's just...given everyone in this room one might think we were plotting something sinister instead of saving lives. Cameron and I watched Clue with Sharon last night, so I suppose I felt a slight sense of life imitating art" said Margo once she'd regained her composure.  

"So how did all of this work? I mean, how were you chosen by Red Room?" asked Steve, figuring that the best course of action would be to try and figure out where the kids were being taken from.  

"Maria figured that out, actually" said Natasha as she leaned back and crossed her arms. Her relief at not having to explain would only be visible to those looking closely but Cameron letting her head fall on to her shoulder might have distracted from it.  

"When Natasha first came to SHIELD, Fury had a team work on finding out how Red Room recruited people. There were those with theories ranging from orphans and parents selling their children, but none of those guaranteed anything. I took to investigating all of the ballet schools and then classes taught by former famous dancers or famous teachers. It was how I came across an old newspaper clipping that had Natasha's picture as a little girl dancing along with a group in a performance" explained Maria, keeping one hand entangled with Natasha's and rubbing soothing circles on the back with her thumb.  

"I don't get it. Dance classes? Why is that a target group?" asked Clint.  

"Because to dance ballet takes a certain type of person. Someone willing to push themselves and work rigorously. Also, that individual would have a light step, fluidity of movement, flexibility and possible acrobatic ability, as well as beauty. Then there would be all the things that being a dancer requires: a good diet-or what could be managed, staying fit, all things that Red Room would already be searching for found in classes right for them to pick from" explained Jamie as she opened an envelope and three photos poured onto the coffee table. Natasha touched them carefully, almost as if they might burn her, while Cameron tucked herself farther into the couch and peeked at them from over Natasha's shoulder.  

There was no mistaking who was in the photos. Natasha had had the same blonde hair when they'd rescued her but had since returned to red. Her eyes were the same brilliant green though. Cameron had apparently always had that edge of mischief about her, hinted at the grin trying to creep out from the edge of her smile and the twinkle in her dark brown eyes. Barry leaned over and picked one up too.  

"Actually..." started Jamie, pulling another envelope from her jacket pocket and handing it to him. He opened it to find two photos of him, still tall but looking younger and in uniform looking every bit the new soldier.  

"All I remember is lots of shooting and then dying, really. And the doctors" says Barry before tossing them on the table. Natasha is still looking at the there photos and Maria isn't sure what to make of the look on her face.  

"That's my face, Nat. But I don't remember that. Why don't I remember that? _It's my face! I should remember_!" asked Cameron, her voice becoming more and more panicked. Natasha shook herself free of whatever trance she'd been in and turned and wrapped an arm around Cameron while she gently shushed her.  

"It's okay, it's okay. I don't remember either. But no one knows about them but the people in this room and we can trust them, okay?" reassured Natasha. Cameron nodded, still a bit shaken by seeing a past she had no memory of.  

It was in moments like this that despite Natasha's stating that she didn't have any, Maria saw her maternal instincts come out. She could picture Natasha being a wonderful mother. But those were thoughts for after all of this was over. When their imaginary possible child wouldn't be in danger of being hunted by Red Room and HYDRA.  

"What about you, Barry? What do you remember?" asked Griffin. Barry had been trying to think back ever since he saw those old photos of himself.  

"My father was what would be called a mathematician now. In Ukraine he was just an old man who knew numbers. Somehow he caught the notice of a guy named Reinhardt. I think one of Dad's buddies gave him his name and told him of his talents. I've got Dad's talent for numbers and a way with building things, not on the level with Cam here, but I can impress if I want to. I spent most of my time fixing jeeps and whatever else, trying to help bring in a little extra. If I wasn't at the garage I was at the boxing gym. That's where Reinhardt found me and offered me "an opportunity to change history and science forever" but it really didn't sound like I could say no. Dad only came because they recruited me but they killed him when he finally said no. He wasn't going to help Reinhardt use his numbers and formulas to kill people." Barry had finished his explanation with a shrug, but the blankness on his, Natasha, and Cameron's faces was a testament as to how hard they were still trying to forget even after all this time.  

"If they're getting kids at youth hostels as well as picking up homeless orphans then wouldn't that mean they wouldn't care who they're using" asks Steve, steering them back on point.  

"But they went after Jamie's daughter which means they're still hunting for specifics for something" countered Joan.  

"Steve, was the formula that was used to enhance you ever stored somewhere?" asked Sharon as she looked at the photos of Barry and Natasha and Cameron all next to each other.  

"I don't think so. I think it got destroyed. Why?"  

"Because if they can't recapture the Winter Soldier, and can't keep a hold or control over their previous subjects--" started Sharon.  

"They're trying to create a new super soldier and any failed attempts will work well enough to serve as part of their army" finished Maria.  

They'd have to try and see if they could get the others, maybe even Phil's team.

A war on two sides of the world happening in secret.

They'd help from more than just the Norse Gods if they failed.


	14. Chapter 14

Fury and the other Avengers were brought in as well as Phil. Except that Phil showed up with the members of his team.  

Maria was talking with Fury when Phil showed up. "This is a meeting that no one is supposed to know about Phil, or was that not made clear?" asks Fury, his figure standing tall as glares down at him.  

"New director rules, no keeping my team in the dark" says Phil, staring right back.

"So, when are we going to tell him we've got two Red Room assassins in the next room that Natasha counts as family?" asks Steve. Phil's jaw drops with the rest of his team's.  

"Dude, are you serious about Natasha and the other Avengers being here? Because if they are, we sooo shouldn't be" says Skye. Jemma, Leo, and Trip are already backing out the door when Phil orders them to stay. Phil turns back but it's Melinda who speaks.  

"You."  

Cameron inclines her head a bit and gives a faint smile. Phil's going for his ICER but Steve's shield is blocking his aim at her. Melinda's hand is on his arm and he lowers his gun a bit. "She's the reason we were able to get you out of Raina's memory machine the first time."  

"Long time no see, Phil" comments Tony from further down the hall. Phil looks down the hallway to see the Avengers already in attendance except for Thor.  

"Great to hear you're alive, moving on" says Barton turning his back on his former lover. That hits Phil hard and he's left desperately looking for something to say.   
"Maria-"  
"-is not responsible for telling us, you are. Or would be if you thought we were important enough" interjects Clint.   
"Fury died!" argues Phil. This is not how he wanted this conversation to happen!   
"And told Maria who then went and got Natasha, Steve, and Sam first thing" argues back Clint only to have Fury nod. 

"That's not the issue right now-" starts Maria.

"Who are these people and why do we trust them?" asked Phil in an attempt to remind everyone that he was now the Director of SHIELD.  

"This would be Cameron and her friends Griffin and Barry and they are the reason we are now aware of the fact that HYDRA and Red Room are working together and have been for years now" explains Fury.  

"How?" asks Melinda, stunned that they had all missed this, even when SHIELD was still a thing.  

"They captured Natasha to try and use her again" says Clint.  

"And we believe their account because?" asks Phil.  

Cameron gives him a dismissive glance. "Because in the same way you let Loki stab you, I let Red Room shave away bits of my brain." It was a cutting and cruel remark and turned Phil's anger entirely on her.  

Just where she wanted it.

She kicked Phil's chair backwards, sending him to his back and faster than he could think, the chair back was pressed against his throat. "Careful, Natasha, Barry, and I have been around since the 1920's and you'll have to think up something good for us not to see it coming. Point of interest, the gun you used against Loki was made by a private contractor that Stark works with. A company run by Isabel Rochev. Pleased to meet you. You are here as a courtesy so that you know what's going on and to stay out of the way." With that, the pressure against his throat was gone and Cameron was back by Natasha and Maria's sides.  

" _That's_ why I know your face! Except you also tend to love kabuki masks and hide behind them" remarks Tony.  

"It's hard to have lived for so long and not aged and go without being photographed-" starts Cameron.  

"Ah..." finishes Tony. Being recognized would have been too risky.  

"Can we get to part that is actually important now?" asks the man that is immensely tall and looks to be about as strong as Steve.  

The group moved down to the basement where they were given more privacy should any of them have been followed. Like tailing Phil and his band of merry followers.  

"Is no one going to note the creepy of this room?" asks Tony as he follows Sam and Bruce down the stairs.  

"My brother has his hand in many types of creepy but we cleaned it out the best we could" replies Margot.  

Over the next several hours Maria lays out for the others everything they'd put together so far.  

* * *

"So if she's Black Widow, what are you two?" asks Sam later when they're taking a break. Skye, Jemma, and Fitz are talking with Bruce and Tony and Cameron but stop and look over with the others. Barry leans back in his chair and takes a pull of his apple cider.    
"Male subjects don't get code names" he says.

Jemma turns to Cameron, who Natasha lifts an eyebrow at and gets a shrug in return.  

"Proteus" answers Natasha for her.

"After a God who served Poseidon-" starts Cameron.

"Fond of water?" asks Trip with his usual smile.

"Not really. It's the second part. Proteus could change his shape at will" answers Cameron with a smirk.

"You said ' _he_ '" comments Fitz and Cameron wiggles her eyebrows at him.

"A bit of misdirection never hurts."

"Speaking of which, how many other aliases should we be looking out for?" asks Phil. Clint glares at him for his tone.  

"I told you one: _Isabel Rochev_. I told Steve two: _Cameron Phillips_ and _Cameron Soto_. I tell any more than that and there's really no point to them is there? Besides, that'd spoil the fun of it all" replies Cameron and gets up to get something from her bag in the other room. Natasha followed after her and leaned against the couch behind her.  

"Skye and Trip kept Phil from it earlier. If they hadn't, Banner would have. You've made quite an impression" says Natasha. She's glad that her sister of sorts has been accepted by the rest of her family.  

"Hey, they seem like a good bunch for the most part. You're not.....you're not dating one of them are you?" asks Cameron hesitantly. Natasha hadn't considered their bond and the fact that Cameron had no one.  

"One of the guys? No! I'm with Maria. Wait....why??" asks Natasha carefully, having spotted Maria in the doorway while Cameron's head was still in her bag.

"Oh thank Thor. Maria's awesome" replies Cameron, pulling a notebook from her bag.

"Wait a minute, what would you have done?"

"Well, I'd have to make it look like an accident, wouldn't I? It's not like I have a lot of time for it _now_..."

Maria's unable to hold back her laughter any longer.

They were then pulled from their teasing by an argument outside.

"I'm going with them!"

"You know nothing about her!" Clint and Phil's voices are loud enough that it's hard to pretend you can't overhear them.

"Cameron isn't the only one going, Phil. And I know Natasha like she's my sister! Look, the kid was right! You're here just to be told to stay outta the way!"

"I'm the Director of SHIELD now Clint! How do you propose I do that?"

"Well, if you see a bunch of Russian soldiers coming in subs saying 'HAIL HYDRA', run. Same if you see anyone doing that over here. And you may be the Director of SHIELD, but the AVENGERS are Fury's and Maria's. We don't answer to you and last time I checked none of them had signed up to be SHIELD agents. I know I sure as hell didn't." Clint stomped back in leaving Phil alone outside.

They'd been so happy before Loki but to look at them now you'd never know it. Phil resolved to fix this, but it was added to a long list. Maybe that's why things were in the state they were.


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Most of accident inspired/taken from The Horse Whisperer movie

Cameron and Natasha had gone with Margot on her noon check on the horse. So while the two where gone, the rest of the group decided to learn what they could from Barry.

"So are you going to tell us what makes Cameron and Natasha so connected?" asks Melinda.

"Fine. But only because they told me I could while they weren't around" says Barry as he makes himself comfortable in the large chair.

"Why that stipulation" asks Maria, uneasy about hearing it if they didn't want to be present.

"I was there too, and they aren't pleasant memories to relive. It was way back when we were little, so early 1930's. I was about fifteen maybe and Cameron was maybe eleven or twelve, Natasha was only nine or ten herself. I was one of the soldiers they were training, a guard at the time. Cameron was experimented on because of her mind, but Natasha's was more of circumstance.

Dancing wasn't the only training the girls did. I mean besides weapons and defense training. I mean it's Russia and there are forests so the girls also trained on horseback. Nat was a natural and Cameron too, but Cameron had morning classes since she's always been ahead of the rest.

Natasha usually went riding with Cameron after her classes and after Natasha had finished with her morning jobs and exercises. Except that another girl from Natasha's group named Yelena got Natasha to go with her. I saw the two go off and thought they were meeting Cameron. They were younger and only allowed to go riding with an older student. Cameron came out of her class and then we went off to find them.

Yelena had taken them off the path and it looked like the horses couldn't handle the steep hills and snow. Natasha's started to fall backwards and bucked Nat off, but her foot was caught. The horse dragged Natasha back through the forest towards an area where it could find it's footing. Unfortunately, that was the road and we couldn't get down there before Yelena's horse crashed into the front of a supply jeep coming up the road.

It was clear that Natasha was regarded as one of Red Room's more promising students which is why they let Cam look after her, hoping that she'd mentor her or something. Cameron looked after her more than mentored, I mean she did that too some, but she also kept Nat safe. More cautious and honing her skills at stealth more before rushing in, as some were eager to do and prove themselves.

Anyway, they operated on Natasha to save her but at the same time started altering her genetically. I guess with Cam being able to heal herself, they figured out how to fine tune whatever super soldier like serum they were using and keep it from killing her. As far as I know, only a handful of us survived, but there were only twenty eight girls to begin with.

Cam nearly killed Yelena when the girl blamed Natasha for not having better control of her horse. Took four of us to get her off  from beat the other girl.  She was normally very reserved and calm around superiors, so this was also the first glimpse they got of what she was capable of. I think Nat probably blames the more extreme methods and experiments Cameron underwent on herself based on that incident. To Cam, Nat's her little sister, so she was with her during her recovery as much as she could be, when she wasn't in the bed next to her healing from something herself.

When they screwed up and took Cam's memories, the issue became whether or not she was still an efficient assassin. Turned out she was, but as a project they labeled her a failure. But Nat was there for her until she had her chance to get free" explains Barry with a nod towards Clint.

"Not to make anything less of their history, but what the point in telling us this?" asks Sharon. It explained a lot about the two, but Barry didn't strike her as the type to go on about their history unless there was a bigger point. He gave her a sort of sad smirk and Sharon didn't like the feeling she suddenly had in her stomach.

"Despite both being traitors and one being a failed experiment, you've seen how far Red Room has gone to try to get Natasha back before. Hell, Fury tells me you've run into Yelena before. And now they had them both. They won't stop coming after them because they still see them as valuable. Even if it's only as research. Charlie? That kid Nat told me about? Sure he lost his leg to their experiments but they'll still have him down as an ongoing project and he'll be among the first they'll come for so they can continue. They won't stop until they have them. And now we know that's just the science and secret army based side. You've got HYDRA working with them too. Won't that be fun?" says Barry, scratching at his beard.

Tony realizes that the man isn't so much being lazy, but taking advantage of all the time off his feet he can because he knows he'll be on them constantly soon. Nick nudges Maria's side and gestures towards the window before going to sit with Barry to discuss how grim things might turn here. Maria goes to the window and looks out to see Margot and Cameron sitting on the fence while Natasha rides the horse around to stretch it's legs. Actually she can't see their faces clearly, but the red haired rider on the horse leaves little question.

"She rode an alien craft through New York and then ate Shawarma next to me after. Doesn't surprise me she's back on a horse" says Bruce gently from beside her. Maria smiles. She's always thought Natasha's stronger than she gives herself credit for. Maria just hoped she was too.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the end of THIS portion. The sequel and part where Natasha, Cameron, Barry, Griffin, and Clint go back to Red Room takes place next. Felt like that should be a separate story. 
> 
> For those worried about Maria and Natasha being separated, they will be for a bit but that never lasts long now does it? :)


End file.
